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摘要
摘要
"All men become brothers . . .
Be embraced, ye millions!"
The Ninth Symphony, a symbol of freedom and joy, was Beethoven's mightiest attempt to help humanity find its way from darkness to light, from chaos to peace. Yet the work was born in a repressive era, with terrified Bourbons, Hapsburgs, and Romanovs using every means at their disposal to squelch populist rumblings in the wake of the French Revolution and Napoleon's wars. Ironically, the premiere of this hymn to universal brotherhood took place in Vienna, the capital of a nation that Metternich was turning into the first modern police state.
The Ninth's unveiling, on May 7, 1824, was the most significant artistic event of the year, and the work remains one of the most precedent-shattering and influential compositions in the history of music--a reference point and inspiration that resonates even today. But in The Ninth, eminent music historian Harvey Sachs demonstrates that Beethoven was not alone in his discontent with the state of the world. Lord Byron died in 1824 during an attempt to free Greece from the domination of the Ottoman empire; Delacroix painted a masterpiece in support of that same cause; Pushkin, suffering at the hands of an autocratic czar, began to draft his anti-authoritarian play Boris Godunov; and Stendhal and Heine wrote works that mocked conventional ways of thinking.
The Ninth Symphony was so unorthodox that it amazed and confused listeners at its premiere--described by Sachs in vibrant detail--yet it became a standard for subsequent generations of creative artists, and its composer came to embody the Romantic cult of genius. In this unconventional, provocative new book, Beethoven's masterwork becomes a prism through which we may view the politics, aesthetics, and overall climate of the era.
Part biography, part history, part memoir, The Ninth brilliantly explores the intricacies of Beethoven's last symphony--how it brought forth the power of the individual while celebrating the collective spirit of humanity.
评论 (5)
出版社周刊评论
Beethoven wasn't always a cultural icon. At least one critic attending the 1824 premiere of his Symphony No. 9 in D Minor likened what he heard to a "hideously writhing wounded dragon." Just why the composer and his works endure is the question behind this absorbing book by music historian Sachs (Toscanini). Through detailed musical analysis and condensed readings of cultural politics and 19th-century history, Sachs ponders "what role so-called high culture played, plays, and ought to play in civilization." Using the year 1824 and the premiere of the Ninth as ground zero, Sachs reviews the literary, artistic, and social movements of the time, noting how Beethoven's innovative symphony (the first with a vocal score) and its themes of equality and redemption no doubt challenged the resurgent conservatism among Europe's monarchies. Sachs places Beethoven alongside Pushkin, Byron, and other prominent romantics, whose talents he finds linked to a common quest for freedoms-political, artistic, and "above all of the mind and spirit." After first presenting the Ninth as a Viennese social event and then as emblematic of Beethoven's artistic process, Sachs shines with a close reading of the Ninth's musical score, interpreting its techniques and emotive narrative. Readers will want a recording nearby. In the book's last chapter, Sachs deals with the impact and legacy of Beethoven's masterwork and explains what makes his music universal. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
《书目》(Booklist)书评
On May 7, 1824, the premier of Beethoven's ninth and last symphony pushed symphonic music into Romanticism. Napoleon had been overthrown. Byron, Pushkin, and Stendhal had advanced poetry and prose fiction; Delacroix, painting. Maturing as such political and artistic ferment mounted, Beethoven had discovered the Ode to Joy of Romantic literary forefather Friedrich Schiller 30 years earlier and employed it to sum up his art. Sachs discusses each movement of the Ninth in detail, from the terror and despair of the first to the anger and acceptance in the second to the peace of the third. The fourth begins with quotations from the its predecessors. Then, the bass vocal soloist interrupts to launch the movement into joy and hope. The Ninth influenced all subsequent nineteenth-century composers, who from Berlioz to Meyerbeer to Wagner built upon the foundations laid by Beethoven. This discussion of the cornerstone of Romantic music, whose influence extended deep into the twentieth century, is concise, thorough, and written from the heart of a great biographer, musicologist, and lover of fine music.--Hirsch, Alan Copyright 2010 Booklist
Choice 评论
In this subjective, descriptive, semi-fictional work, Sachs presents the cultural context of the Ninth Symphony's creation and looks at its impact through the years. Beginning in 1824, when the symphony premiered, the author provides biographical sketches and evaluations of works by selected contemporaneous writers and artists, including Byron, Stendhal, Pushkin, Heine, and Delacroix. He finds, in Beethoven and all of these individuals, a shared spirit of Romantic rebellion and urge for freedom. Interspersed into the book's nonlinear, digressive historical parts are references to Beethoven's biography, a quick history of European art music, and a fictional monologue by the composer. In analyzing the Ninth, Sachs provides a blow-by-blow account of musical events in nontechnical terms, but makes no attempt to convey the symphony's forms or styles. The lack of bibliography and numbered footnotes makes the book untenable as a scholarly resource. Academic readers should turn instead to Beethoven and His World, ed. by Scott Burnham and Michael Steinberg (2000); Stephen Rumph's Beethoven after Napoleon (CH, Dec'04, 42-2130); or Lewis Lockwood's biography Beethoven: The Music and the Life (CH, May'03, 40-5129)--or, for analysis of the Ninth, to Nicolas Cook's Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (1993) or David Levy's Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony (CH, Oct'95, 33-0838). Summing Up: Optional. General readers only. A. M. Hanson St. Olaf College
Kirkus评论
The year 1824, viewed through the lens of Beethoven's final symphonya mix of cultural history, memoir and musicology. Former conductor Sachs (Music History/Curtis Institute of Music; The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, 2002, etc.) leaves no doubt of his intentions, declaring immediately that the Ninth is "one of the most precedent-shattering and influential compositions in the history of music." Following a brief laudatory prelude, the author describes a recent visit to the building where Beethoven was living when the piece premiered in Vienna on May 7, 1824, and then reconstructs that pivotal evening, writing with informed confidence about the vast demands of the piece on musicians and noting sadly that the theater no longer stands. In a bold, perhaps foolhardy, move, the author ventures briefly into Beethoven's mind, imagining his thoughtse.g, "Even if my green frock coat were covered in shit it would be to good for the sniveling Viennese." Fortunately, Sachs quickly abandons this device, sticking thereafter to what he knows and feels, which is more than sufficient. He sketches Beethoven's family history, summarizes the complexities of post-Napoleonic Europe (taking a shot at historian Eric Hobsbawm) and glances at the lives and achievements of contemporaries, including Byron, Pushkin, Delacroix, Stendahl and Heine. Sachs then provides a long, personal response to each of the symphony's four movements, sections that engage not for their practical valuewe learn few specificsbut for the passion and affection that inform every phrase. The author ends with a discussion about how Beethoven influenced some noted contemporariesfrom Schubert to Rossiniand with deeply personal comments about how Beethoven has affected his own life since boyhood. A fan's noteseloquent, erudite, passionate and musical. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
The Ninth Symphony is not just one of greatest musical masterpieces of all time-it was also Beethoven's evocation of the prerevolutionary climate of 1824, a time of unrest and yearning for personal freedom. With that seminal hymn, he brilliantly captured that tension while also celebrating humanity's collective spirit. Here, Sachs (Curtis Inst. of Music, Philadelphia) puts the composition into historical context, packing his writing with down-to-earth humor and including candid reactions of other artists to Beethoven's work and influence. The numerous European accents actor Patrick Egan employs (e.g., Lord Byron) are appropriately grand and glorious and enhance the overall listening experience. For anyone liking biographies and for all students and enthusiasts of music and history. ["A thought-provoking, broadly based, well-informed discussion that should appeal to well-educated general readers as well as music specialists," read the review of the Random hc, LJ 1/10.-Ed.]-Susan G. Baird, formerly with Oak Lawn P.L., IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
目录
| Prelude | p. 3 |
| Part 1 A Grand Symphony with Many Voices | p. 7 |
| Part 2 1824, or How Artists Internalize Revolution | p. 59 |
| Part 3 Imagining the Ninth | p. 113 |
| Part 4 To Begin Anew | p. 163 |
| Postlude | p. 195 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 201 |
| Notes | p. 203 |
| Illustration Credits | p. 213 |
| Index | p. 215 |